Why people don’t work together isn’t skills but motivation and clarity

Picture two friends solving a puzzle together. One friend eagerly picks up pieces, but the other drags their feet, dipping their head and sighing. Are they missing puzzle-matching skills, or do they simply not care about finishing the picture? The first friend, trying to help, might lecture on the corner pieces’ placement only to find the other friend still disinterested.

Great collaboration starts by diagnosing the true cause of stalled progress. Robert Sutton in “High Output Management” reminds us that teams stumble not from lack of effort but from unclear goals or missing skills. Perhaps the runner on your relay team doesn’t know the baton rules, or the coder in your project management app group hasn’t learned a critical library. Alternatively, maybe the cause isn’t skill at all but a misalignment in motivation. The runner dreads the limelight, or the coder would rather work on 3D modeling.

Asking simple, direct questions—‘What outcome matters most to you?’ or ‘Which step do you feel unprepared for?’—brings hidden barriers to light. Clarity on what victory looks like, paired with honest dialogue about who can and wants to take the baton, resets the race.

When you address the true barrier—be it technical coaching or co-creating motivating targets—you unlock the team’s potential. Clarity, not just command, determines whether teammates run with purpose or wander off the track.

Next time progress halts, pause and ask, “What’s blocking us?” Listen closely as your teammate describes where they feel stuck. Then restate your joint definition of success so you’re aligned. Finally, decide together whether to sharpen skills through a quick coaching session or hand off the challenge to someone with more passion. Keep this diagnosis ritual short but consistent—you’ll find it transforms drudgery into momentum.